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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Bed

"The closer something is to your body the better it should be. This argues for fine sheets and cheap drapes." - Marni Jameson

Oprah says that everyone should have a bed that they love; a bed that at the end of each day feels like a well-earned reward. I have actually done quite a bit of research on the subject of bedding. I do these things, dear reader, so that you don't have to! In fact, I just finished a book that devoted a whole chapter to slip covers alone! Oh, the sacrifices I make!

A few years ago I made the decision to make the bed every single day. But with a top sheet and a blanket or two on the bed I found that it was very time consuming. I went on the Internet to see if I could find another way to make the bed that was more efficient. This is when I discovered that, in general, the British do not use top sheets! I was informed that they use a duvet and a duvet cover. The duvet cover acts as a top sheet so there was no need to put another top sheet on the bed. Genius! And there was a whole website devoted to this! I immediately began doing this and found that it was just one quick flick of the bedding and the bed was made. It made it so much easier to make the bed every morning.

However, there was a downside. Every now and then I would have to fight with duvet inside the duvet cover. It would bunch up at one end even though the corners were tied to the duvet cover. And it was a pain to put back in the cover on wash day. We also had a down duvet (which I loved!) that could not be washed regularly and with our three fur babies sleeping with us, everything needs to be washable.

Last year I had the opportunity to stay at a higher-end hotel and found the very, comfortable bed covered in just a duvet, no duvet cover. Surely it had to be washable and so that sent me on a quest for a duvet that could go into the washing machine every week. I ended up at a quilt store and the sales lady told me about gel-coated, micro fibre duvets. The gel keeps the micro fibre from bunching and allows the duvet to be washed regularly. I bought it immediately!

The duvet is too heavy for the summer so I change the bedding over to just a duvet cover on it's own when the weather starts to warm up. It's basically two sheet sewn together and it give us just enough warmth in the summer time.

In changing over the bedding from winter to summer, I also decided to wash the bed skirt. And, since I had the mattress off to wash the bed skirt, I felt that this was also the time to remove the box spring and give the floor under the bed a good cleaning.

I never keep anything under the bed and I do vacuum under there regularly, however, I found that it was difficult the get all of the dust from around the electrical cords that were laying on the floor.

I decided it was time to get the cords up off the floor.

I used plastic tie straps to attach a power bar to the bottom rung of the wrought iron head board. I also tie- strapped the cords to the same bar.

I put the bed back together and now everything should stay cleaner (Mr. P. is allergic to dust). I set up a charging station for Mr. P's phone beside the bed so even that cord is neatly off the floor and out of the way.

Do you have any tips for making the bed? What type of bedding do you love?

5 comments:

When I was growing up I was taught to make the bed with "hospital corners". Each sheet was tucked in "just right" with perfect corners. My mother-in-law (God rest her soul) used to say that I made the bed like a multi-layer cake!

As you can imagine, this was time consuming. Over the years I just stopped making the bed, unless I absolutely had to, because if I could not do it right I would not do it at all. FlyLady talked me out of that silly thinking.

Now, I have a fitted sheet, a top sheet, and a bedspread (all washable). I only make the bed perfectly after I wash the sheets and am putting them back on (out of respect for my aunt, who taught me the technique). The rest of the time I just straighten everything up, no tucking, just straight. It looks nice.

If I am going to have guests over and I want to make the bed extra nice to look at, I throw a lovely duvet over everything, put on the fancy frilly pillows, and Voilà! Perfect!

I make my bed every day now.

You have a lovely bedroom. My bed is wood and I cannot put the cords up, like you have them, but I think I will look into some sort of solution that will give me a similar effect.

I learned to make hospital corners when I was a girl at camp. I don't mind making them, but for the past forty years I haven't had to do so -- we use fitted bottom sheets and a flat top sheet. I don't tuck in the top sheet as I can't stand it pressing on my toes when it is tucked in. Over that we have a duvet in a duvet cover. It takes less than two minutes to make the bed, including straightening regular and decorative pillows and folding a warm throw across the foot of the bed. The throw is our recent solution to the issue that I always want one more layer of blankets than DH. Thanks to FlyLady, making the bed has become a normal part of my morning routine. I used to think it was a waste of time, but now I love having a lovely neat bed waiting every night.